Boy, 5, miraculously grabs hold of railings as he falls from 20th floor

Boy, 5, miraculously grabs hold of railings as he falls from 20th floor

A 5-year-old boy in southwest China was pulled to safety after dangling for nearly half an hour from the railings of a 19th-floor flat, which he had somehow managed to grab onto as he fell from the floor above.

The little boy was spotted by neighbours clinging to the balcony grille at about 6am on Wednesday after they heard him calling for help in the city of Dazhou, in Sichuan province, Dazhou Evening News reported.

Police were called and minutes later, seven officers and a number of neighbours rushed to the 18th and 19th floors of the high-rise, the report said.

The police had to force their way into the 19th-floor flat, and managed to rescue the boy from there almost 30 minutes after the neighbours had seen him.

His family told police that no one had been home when the boy woke up, and he was on the balcony trying to see outside when he fell, according to the report.

Last month, a group of neighbours stepped in to rescue two young girls who were stranded in a burning building in Huzhou, Zhejiang province. They formed a line and climbed up to the second-floor balcony to carry the children down to safety.

It followed a similar incident that made headlines worldwide in May, when a 22-year-old Malian migrant saved a four-year-old child hanging from a fourth-floor balcony in Paris. He was offered French nationality and a job as a firefighter.